Kings Road Property has submitted plans to demolish Marks & Spencer’s King’s Road store in Chelsea, SW3, to make way for a new building with more office space, with the retailer’s floorspace significantly reduced.
Under planning proposals submitted to Kensington and Chelsea Council, the site at 81-103 King’s Road would be redeveloped into a five-storey mixed-use block, including more than 100,000 sq ft of offices, and 26,000 sq ft of retail space.
The current part-three-storey and part-four-storey 1980s building includes two retail floors occupied by Marks & Spencer, totalling around 36,000 sq ft, a basement car park and offices above.
Developer Kings Road Property wrote that the retailer has decided not to renew its lease on the building, which expires in 2023. It said that M&S wishes to retain a presence at the site, but to downsize to a food-only offering and “significantly reduce its floorspace”.
It comes weeks after Marks & Spencer announced plans to redevelop its flagship Marble Arch store on Oxford Street, W1, and cut back on retail space at the site.
The 137-year-old retailer wants to replace the upper floors of the building – which is one of two M&S stores on Oxford Street – with office space, as part of its “Never The Same Again” transformation programme.
Under the strategy, M&S said it would “create a store estate fit for the future”, with ongoing store rotations and renewals, greater integration of technology and “assertive management” of its leasehold and freehold assets to “unlock additional value”.
EG has approached M&S and King’s Road Property for comment.
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